THE FLORISTS MANUAL. 



J45 



If let alone in one house at one tem 

 perature a batch of lilies would vary 

 in time of flowering a month or six 

 weeks. It is entirely by moving them 

 about into different degrees of tempera 

 ture that you can get 900 out of a thou 

 sand lilies to be in flower the same week. 



We will go back to the 7x9 bulbs we 

 left in the frame in 6-inch pots. If you 

 leave them there till middle of Decem 

 ber, which for want of room you may 

 have to do, don t let a sudden hard frost 

 sweep down on them. Though almost or 

 quite a hardy plant they have been 

 grown somewhat artificially and 10 t&amp;lt;&amp;gt; 

 15 degrees of frost without any cover 

 ing will hurt the foliage and greatly dis 

 figure them. I can speak from expe 

 rience on this and would rather the lilies 

 had little or no frost. 



If Easter is early you will want to 

 bring them in by the first of November. 



We start in with a night temperature 

 of 45 to 50 degrees and increase to 60 

 later. I think a night heat of 60 in a 

 light house and this is what lilies 

 should always have till they open their 

 flowers grows them nicely, and can t be 

 called heavy forcing. There are times 

 frequently when to get the backward 

 plants in bloom we have to give them 70 

 degrees at night and 85 to 90 in day 

 time. 



You cannot get your Easter crop of 

 lilies in without a great deal of labor 

 in moving them around, and with the 

 experience of years you will yet be 

 anxious as to getting all at the right 

 time. No possible rule can be laid down, 

 as Easter is a changeable date. It is 

 sure that if Easter is in the last days 

 of March you will have to force much 



Field of Lilium Harrisii in Bermuda. 



more than if it were April 24. Be 

 in time and before you move lilies 

 into a cool house let them be opening 

 the flowers. I have noticed that when 

 moved, say from a night temperature of 

 60 degrees to one of 45 degrees, when the 

 buds were not fully developed, they would 

 stand about still. It is too great a check 

 at a time when they need heat, but when 

 just expanding, they can be put in a very 

 cool house and if shaded will keep for 

 two weeks after being open. 



When the lilies are a foot above the 

 pots they want a stake or they swing 

 about and often get loose and frequently 

 break at the neck of the bulb. 



The soil we use for lilies is a good 

 loam, to which has been added a fifth of 

 old hotbed manure, and we pot rather 

 firmly. For the early crops which are 

 cut during winter and are flowered in 

 6-inch pots we do not trouble to put any 

 drainage in the pots, but with the 6-inch 

 and larger we always use a crock and a 

 thin piece of green moss. Lilies have to 

 stand on all kinds of material and when 

 this little precaution is taken they are 

 less likely to get stuffed up. 



We frequently notice the tips of the 

 leaves of the Harrisii, and sometimes of 

 the longiflorum, turn brown for half an 

 inch or so. Many times every leaf is so 

 affected. The cause of it we don t know 

 unless it be the effect of fumigating, 

 which the lilies need so much. There 

 fore we think it safest to evaporate some 

 of the tobacco extract rather than burn 

 it. The vapor cannot possibly harm any 

 thing, and it penetrates into the thick 

 rosette of leaves which is formed just 

 before the buds are seen. 



Lilies are much troubled witli aphis, 



in fact against them it is a continual 

 fight, still if the house is vaporized once 

 a week regularly, it will save you much 

 annoyance. The fly is always deep down 

 among the small and tender flower buds, 

 and if undisturbed will puncture the 

 small bud, which causes a deformed and 

 twisted flower. So in addition to to 

 bacco fumes or vapor you should go over 

 the crowns of the plants occasionally and 

 in the center of them with a rubber 

 plant sprinkler squirt in some nico 

 tine diluted 200 times. This may seem 

 tedious, but it need not cost a quarter 

 of a cent a plant and will surely pay at 

 that price. 



The Japan bulbs are now almost en 

 tirely used for Easter. They arrive later 

 than the Bermuda bulbs and sometimes 

 require more forcing to get them in 

 good shape for Easter. There should be 

 no delay in getting them potted as soon 

 as received, and there should not be any 

 forcing done till they have made plenty 

 of roots; so don t be alarmed if your 

 Japan bulbs have made little top growth 

 by New Year s. If you have a warm 

 house at your command they will come 

 along very fast if well rooted. 



There is also a good demand for these 

 beautiful flowers on Memorial day. To 

 have a supply then it is more a problem 

 of retarding than forcing. Keep them 

 in a coldframe protected with glass till 

 New Year s and then remove to a very 

 cool house and with little artificial heat 

 and plenty of ventilation in April and 

 May they will be about right for the last 

 of May. Here at least is where you 

 could adopt the plan of starting them in 

 4-inch pots, for they would not want 

 their flowering pot till the last of Janu- 



